Four girls, eight boys earn all-conference honors

This article submitted by Nicole Orbeck, Josh Jones & Dan Johnson on 5/20/97.Girls track. . .Friday, May 9, the girl tracksters headed to Rocori for their Section 6AA True Team Meet. Because the team was moved from class A (which they competed at last year) to class AA this year, the girls definitely had their work cut out for them by competing at a higher level with much bigger schools. However, the girls battled hard enough for a fifth place finish.

Three personal bests were achieved at this meet. Erin Aagesen ran an excellent two-mile with a time of 12:31 and a sixth place finish.

Tiffany Rausch received her best time of the season in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:02.7 for a second place.

Teresa Rodriguez was quite a surprise of the meet. She received second place in the discus with a best ever throw of 105' 7".

WCC meetOn Thursday, May 15, Steph Tangen, Teresa Rodriguez, Erin Aagesen, and Tiffany Rausch received all-conference honors at the West Central Conference meet held at Paynesville.

This year, however, the girls didn't perform well enough to defend their 1996 Conference title. Long Prairie came out on top with Paynesville not too far behind for second.

Among those receiving all-conference honors, Erin Aagesen had a spectacular meet becoming the conference champ in both the mile and two-mile runs.

Tiffany Rausch was the conference champ in the 400 meter dash. This is her second consecutive year of that honor.

Also receiving all-conference recognition is Steph Tangen. She placed second in both the hurdle races.

Finally, Teresa Rodriguez earned the honor with her second place shot put throw.

The girls will be competing next at the sub-section four meet hosted by Litchfield on Thursday, May 22. Prelims begin at 1:30 for the 100 and 200-meter dashes and the 100-meter hurdles. Field events follow at 2:00 and the meet begins at 3:10.

Paynesville is the defending champion in the sub-section, however, New London is the favorite this year. Be sure to cheer the girls on!

Boys track. . .The Paynesville boy's track team hosted the 1997 West Central Conference track meet on Thursday, May 15. The weather was a bit cool, with nothing more than a breeze for wind.

The Paynesville boy's tracksters ran, jumped, and threw their way to a very solid third place performance. Despite the fierce competition, eight received all-conference honors, including three champions.

Grant Bowden ran a near-personal best (41.25) 300-meter hurdles race that out-paced the competition, and earned himself the conference win. Dan Johnson won the 800-meter run in a personal best time of 2:03.82. The third conference champion from Paynesville was shot-putter Tom Knutson, who threw a PR of 46' 7.25 ".

The Paynesville 3200-meter relay team smashed its own school record by 23 seconds enroute to being nipped at the finish line by Albany. Runners from the team, receiving conference silver medals, were Luke Trees, Troy Wendlandt, Matt Jorgensen, and Dan Johnson. Josh Jones hopped, skipped, and jumped his way to an all-conference, second place triple jump performance. Thrower Lee Hiltner also earned a second place medal, in the shot put with a PR of 42' 8."

The next meet on the boyís schedule is the sub-section track meet at Litchfield on Thursday, May 22.